Try
by MellyHorror-Salvatore-Northman
Summary: Jade West's heart was broken, and after all the work she'd put into fixing it she'd like nothing more than to never give anyone a chance to break it again. Tori Vega was looking to start over in a new town, to have a chance at a new life. Rated M.
1. Preface

**Try**

**Summary: _Jade West's heart was broken, and after all the work she'd put into fixing it she'd like nothing more than to never give anyone a chance to break it again. Tori Vega was looking to start over in a new town, to have a chance at a new life, and she'd like nothing more than to have Jade in it, but sometimes life doesn't make sense, and sometimes you just have to let it play out as it wishes._**

**Rating: _M._**

**Warnings: _Life happens and its not pretty, so prepare._**

Coming back to this town could easily be ranked as the number one dumbest decision of my life to date, I really had no reason to return to the place where my ex fiance and his new wife lived, where I had no family left, and no real friends to speak of would seem to be a completely idiotic thing to do, unless you believe in fate.

I do not believe in fate.

But perhaps, if you were to believe in it, you would believe that fate brought me back to town 8 months ago, to suffer through the happiness of my ex, the announcement of their pregnancy, to lock myself away for months in a blind drunk rage, so that my eyes would open to an opportunity I shouldn't waste.

Of course like any other heart broken and bitter moron, I ignored the signs and arrows and the flashing neon lights, but not for too long. Maybe almost close to too long, because deep down I was afraid, as one should be when giving their heart to another human being, after all you can never truly know that the other person isn't telling on very intricate lie meant to humiliate you at the perfect time- but that would be an utterly worthless way to spend your life.

And I couldn't be scared of her forever- she would never stand for it. She was human sunshine, liquid joy and happiness poured into a human frame, an utterly perfect human frame. She was love and warmth and home rolled up into one slightly damaged human package. Her name was Tori Vega, and if you believed in fate than you'd say that fate was the reason I came home-so I could fall in love with her.

Tori Vega believed in fate.


	2. The Day That Changed Everything

**Try**

**Summary: _Jade West's heart was broken, and after all the work she'd put into fixing it she'd like nothing more than to never give anyone a chance to break it again. Tori Vega was looking to start over in a new town, to have a chance at a new life, and she'd like nothing more than to have Jade in it, but sometimes life doesn't make sense, and sometimes you just have to let it play out as it wishes._**

**Rating: _M._**

**Warnings: _Life happens and its not pretty, so prepare._**

**Chapter One – The Day That Changed Everything**

The first day I saw her I should have known that she'd change my world. It was my first day into town in a month, and sadly that wasn't even close to an exaggeration. I left everyday to drive a town over for work, but I never went out in town, not anymore. But that day was different. I woke up from my two hours of sleep feeling restless, grungy and cooped up. So, after a long shower, during which I think I feel asleep for ten minutes again the wall with shampoo running down my face, I changed into a pair of jeans, a dark tank top and shrugged on my leather jacket, packed up my laptop and headed through the winding halls to the foyer.

"Do my eyes deceive me, are you leaving the house? At noon?" Ellen, one of the cleaning ladies, asked me as I stood at the door shoving my feet into my boots. I rolled my eyes at her, tying each of the boots up tight before opening the door, ignoring her jesting as I left. "Now don't hurry back, Jade! We'll be fine with out you!" she called, shutting the door behind me, no doubt locking it to keep me out.

I didn't mind, my feet had no intention of leading me back to the door. It was cold outside, the leather jacket wasn't much against the frigid air and neither were the pants, but at least the cold helped to wake me up as I walked through the town at a stroll, not really in a hurry to get wherever my feet wanted to carry me.

I enjoyed looking around, noting the Christmas lights already up, after all Thanksgiving had passed two days ago so it was time for the Christmas cheer to sweep through the town. All of the familiar scenes and lights were up and running-I couldn't imagine the size of the electric bill of some of these houses and businesses, and I tried not to think about it too seriously as I walked along, keeping my head down to keep from being noticed.

As it turned out my feet wanted to carry me to the local coffee shop, full to the brim with the lunch time crowd, the line was all the way to the door. My feet felt heavy as I stepped up to the back of the line behind my old middle school English teacher Miss Hunter, keeping my head down so everyone would just ignore my presence, that's all I wanted was to be able to be invisible and observe people.

The whole place was buzzing with the latest gossip, all of the voices a loud pounding hum against my ears, making me feel like I was in that scene in a movie where the main character stands in the middle of a crowded room and the camera focuses on them and everything else gets blurry and weird. I felt so out of place. Part of me wanted to run home, baby steps were good, after all, weren't they? But my traitorous feet stayed firm except to step closer to the counter where a girl I went to school with, Cat Valentine, was bustling around trying to fill orders while giving orders to a brunette rushing to fill drinks, seeming slightly confused. It must have been her first week, poor thing. I pulled my eyes away to stare at the ground, chewing on the inside of my lip, trying to disappear back into my head.

"Jade, don't slump, it's bad for your back." Miss Hunter's voice forced my spine to straighten, a glare settling on my face as I looked up from the spot on the floor and met her amused stare, "Even ghosts need to look presentable."

My brain took longer than I'd liked to process her words and form a reply, "So everyone thinks I'm dead now? I should get free coffee." I mused, already having lost her interest, stepping forward as the line got one person shorter and Miss Hunter stepped up to the counter.

"Cat, you look lovely today." she greeted in a cheerful tone. I let out a long exaggerated groan, letting my head fall back in a completely childish display. I don't know what possessed me but I could already feel more than a few people watching me, I'd inadvertently done the one thing I didn't want to, draw attention to myself. Shit. But now I was stuck and I could already feeling the facade slip back onto my face as I tried to ignore the feeling of the stares.

"Oh hush you." Miss Hunter said, turning around to smack my arm before promptly turning around to continue her conversation with Cat.

"We're both gonna die before your order." I scowled at the back of her head and tapped my foot, my arms crossed tightly, making as much of a display as I could, hoping people would quickly lose interest in the childish display.

"As long as you die grumpy and coffee-less I'll die happy," she jested as she finally ordered, "you really ought to lose that temper, spending all that time alone with yourself you think you'd like to see other people."

"What do you think made me hide in that house? You people are all nuts." I growled back quickly. She simply smiled and stepped aside while I stepped up to the counter to place my order, just as Cat turned around and walked away.

"Tor, get this next order." I heard Cat say, the poor brunette fumbled with the lid of the coffee she was finishing up, handed it to the woman waiting for it and turned to me with a smile stretched across her face. She looked like she never frowned. She didn't have a name tag.

"Sorry about the wait, what can I get you?" she asked, sweeping her bangs aside.

"It's not your fault." I replied automatically, "a large coffee, black, and a bagel with extra cream cheese." she nodded and after a few minutes of squinting and poking at the machine, which was a very out dated till, she finally grinned triumphantly. She definitely never frowned.

"I think that's right, 5.49." she informed me. Her smile was like pure sunlight, as if the sun had been poured into her with only her flesh to contain it and it was spilling out between those perfectly pink lips every time she smiled.

"Sounds right to me." I shrugged, passing over a ten trying not to look creepy while I was clearly staring at her, "just put the change in the tip jar."

"Thank you!" she smiled even wider more of that precious sunshine spilling out. I stepped aside to wait watching her openly. She was very pretty, with long brunette wavy hair and dark brown eyes, and pretty pink lips that I decided should never frown, lest the light inside her die. I pulled my eyes away to keep from seeming creepy, glancing around me for a table, noting only one table open, and then with dread also noting who the table beside it was occupied by. I felt panic rising in my chest, they shouldn't be here. They had other places to fill with their toxic presence.

"Excuse me, miss?" I blinked, dragging my eyes away from my ex fiance to the brunette behind the counter, "here's your coffee."

"Ah thanks." I took the hot cup, my feet moving for the empty table like they were filled with lead.

"Wait!" her voice was panicked and stopped me dead in my tracks, "I forgot your bagel." suddenly she was on the other side of the little space behind the counter grabbing the bagel from the toaster, juggling it as it burned her fingers, and quickly scooping up more than four cups of cream cheese, shoving it all into a bag and handing it over.

"Thank you." I smiled, the motion feeling painfully awkward on my lips as the words coated my tongue in a strange taste.

"You're welcome." she smiled back, a genuine smile, before moving back to help the next customer. I glanced over at the table once more, grimacing. They hadn't spotted me, or if they had they were really good at ignoring me, but as soon as I sat down I knew more than there eyes would be on me. I started moving toward it, each step feeling like I was wearing lead shoes, stopping when a hand grabbed my wrist and pulled me down.

"Andre." I blinked slowly, focusing on his face as I adjusted in the chair I'd been haphazardly dragged down into, "why'd you grab my arm?" I complained, setting my bagel bag on the table along with my coffee, twisting myself so I wasn't facing the other table.

"To save you from torturing yourself, if you sat over there you'd never leave your house again. Sitting here? You get to look at the cute new barista and maybe you wont lock yourself away again." I glanced over his shoulder at the woman in question, only to find her looking at me, I focused back on Andre immediately.

"One pretty girl isn't going to change anything."

Andre sat forward, leaning on the table to look me in the eye, "you don't know that, and she's not just pretty, she's gorgeous."

"And judging from the way you're pushing me toward her, not interested in you in the least." I smirked, knowing full well that Andre had tried at least three times to get her out on a date with him, to no avail.

"No, unfortunately the only part of me she's interested in is my amazing producing skills. She moved here from LA, she said she used to want to record an album, she still likes talking shop. But she so far has only mentioned ex girlfriends."

"She could still be bisexual, just cause she doesn't want you doesn't make her a lesbian." I pointed out, "I don't ever talk about my ex boyfriend."

"Because your ex boyfriend is also your ex-fiance, and when you found him cheating on you you ran away for four months, came back and slept with his wife for revenge." Andre pointed out with an arrogant smirk.

I shrugged my shoulder casually, pulling out my bagel and cream cheese, "once a cheater, always a cheater."

It was one of my firm beliefs, that if you slept with someone else while in a relationship you were never to be trusted again, a helpful lesson from my uncle Stefan who had spent too many nights for my liking with women who were not my aunt until she finally walked out, leaving me alone with his disgusting excuse for parenting-and it was woman after woman, marriage after marriage with him, and I have to live with that until I turned 18 and kicked him out on his sorry ass. It was one of the best days of my life.

"And what's that make you?" Andre rebutted, taking a sip out of his coffee.

I paused for a moment, thinking of the correct phrasing, "An asshole." I opened the cream cheese and spread it across my bagel quickly, taking out a bite, "A vengeful asshole." I concluded, shrugging my shoulder nonchalantly. She willingly crawled into bed with me, that was not my fault in anyway. She was sober.

"I'm glad I'm your friend." Andre chuckled, reaching over and snagging half of my bagel.

"Hey, dick, I just put cream cheese on that. Take this one." I tossed the clean one at him with the other cream cheese container, snatching my half back from him roughly, getting cream cheese all over my hand. I licked my hand and wiped it off on a napkin.

"Thanks." he picked up the cream cheese and a knife, spreading it over the bagel and taking a large messy bite, getting cream cheese all over his face, he looked like an idiot trying to lick the remnants off of the side of his mouth. Laughing and shaking my head at him I ripped a piece of my bagel off and popping it in my mouth, "so what made you decide to leave the house?"

"Christmas spirit." I deadpanned, looking around at the very well decorated interior, everything was red and green and tinsel and it just screamed Christmas, even the speakers were blasting Christmas music, currently All I Want For Christmas Is You. I fucking hated this song. I hated it so much that I was half tempted to get up and find the radio and change it, but it ended just as the thought passed and soon Santa Claus was coming to town and I was feeling less homicidal.

"Right, ghosts of Christmas past come and scare you to live your life?" he paused for a moment, "that'll never happen, you'd just befriend them."

I couldn't help but snort at the thought, "Me and the ghost of the future are BFF's, but he wanted to bang the past so I decided to give them their space, I don't really know where the present went, but he's kind of a dick anyway, maybe you've seen him around, you two would be good pals." I ripped another chunk off and popped it in my mouth, "I came out here to write."

"Thank fucking god, something normal." Andre exclaimed around a bite of the bagel, "hows the novel going?" but he didn't even bother looking interested, he knew my answer would be the same as it always was, because I was always in the same state with every novel-which is why I had yet to be published.

"Not finished." I adjusted the strap of my laptop bag, it suddenly felt like it was full of bricks, "I've sort of...its hard to write a novel about love when your heart is broken into a million pieces." I pick at the remains of my bagel, my stomach feeling hallow again. I glanced to my left, watching Beck and Tara getting ready to leave, his arm around her shoulders and her hand on her swollen belly. Fuck them both, they don't deserve that kind of happiness. I quickly looked back at Andre, the burning in my chest too much to bare.

"Well, put on those headphones, open the laptop and write until your fingers hurt. Come to dinner tonight." Andre demanded, finishing off my bagel, with a happy grin. He still had cream cheese on his cheeks, but I decided that telling him would take all of the fun out of everything.

"I've got to work, come to the club." I suggested, waggling my eyebrows teasingly.

"I'll pass, I already work there enough as it is." he grimaced.

"You're no fun, DJ Happy Pants," I teased, "the DJ they've had all week sucks ass, come back, I miss having good music to dance to while I serve drinks to drunk sorority girls."

"Please, like flirting with those girls and taking one home isn't your favorite thing to do." I didn't respond, choosing instead to glare at him in stony silence, disgusted at the idea of taking advantage of anyone as intoxicated as those girls get, "sorry. I know, you only take them to a cab."

"Damn right, bud." I lifted my coffee cup and took a large sip, wincing when I realized I forgot my sugar and cream, damn him for distracting me. Laughing Andre finished off his coffee, wiping his hands clean and stuffing the napkin into the cup while I put sugar and creamer in mine, "look you can't judge me for not coming out, I leave the house every day but Sunday, it's just you don't leave this little town anymore."

"I know." he sighed, standing up and pausing beside me, leaning down and kissing my forehead before grabbing his garbage and walking away. Breathing heavily I cleared off the table and moved to one of the now empty booths to spread my notebooks out and set up my laptop, sliding my headphones over my ears, blocking out the surrounding noise, most importantly the cheerful, ear bleed inducing Christmas music blasting over the speakers.

Slipping into the writing coma, as Andre liked to call it, was hard these days. I'd end up getting lost in my thoughts instead of what I was writing, until I was angry, upset and frustrated beyond all end, but today it seemed a bit easier, the only distraction was the brunette behind the counter that I couldn't help but watch from time to time as she moved about, learning the layout and the procedures, and all in all I wrote about six pages, as well as copying six from my notebook into the document on my computer, so it was a semi productive afternoon, but nowhere near the level I liked.

At five I almost didn't want to get up and head home to get ready for work, but I packed up my things and stepped back into the line, a little disappointed when Cat took my coffee order, and then shuffled back home with music blaring against my ears as I walked, blocking out the hustle and bustle of those around me until I reached my house. I pushed the front door open and kicked off my boots just inside the door, shutting it behind me quietly before tiptoeing upstairs, successfully avoiding Ellen and making it to my room undetected.

After tucking my laptop safely away I stripped out of my jeans, jacket and shirt and wandered around my room waiting for the curling iron to heat up and trying to figure out what to wear for work. Part of me wanted to dress for the weather outside by the other part knew that it'd be hotter than hell behind the bar and I'd need to be able to move freely. Sometimes I really hated not having a uniform. Twenty minutes later I was leaving in a more comfortable pair of jeans and a black cami with the bars logo stamped across the chest, my leather jacket zipped up tightly around me and a pair of comfortable booted heels on my feet.

"Miss West, take some water with you, I know all you've had today is water." Ellen called, stopping me in my path out to the car, tossing me a cold water bottle with a motherly smile on her face.

"Thanks, Ellen. Have a goodnight, and I'll see you on Monday." I told her pointedly.

"You know I don't mind working the weekend." Ellen offered.

"I do, you have a daughter, and a husband. I am perfectly capable of taking care of myself for two days. I promise. Make sure everyone knows that I expect nobody to still be here when I get home, and nobody to show up until Monday." I ordered, though my voice lacked actual boss like conviction.

Ellen simply smiled, "of course Miss West. See you on Monday." I nodded, rolling my lips in between my teeth before stepping into the garage, picking up a set of car keys from the wall and walking to my dads old Mustang, sliding into the drivers seat and starting it up before opening the garage door, letting the car warm up. I always enjoyed just sitting in this car, feeling it rumble beneath me as the oil started to pump through it, it felt like it was almost alive, filling with energy and life.

Once the gauge was on the warmer side of things I put it in reverse and slowly eased off the gas, the car jumped to life, shooting backwards out of the garage and onto the road. I stopped to watch the garage door close firmly behind me and wave to those leaving for the weekend-Ellen always stayed late to make sure everything was in perfect order- before putting the car in drive and heading out of town.

It thankfully only took about twenty minutes to get to work, and already the line was starting to form-given that this was the only bar within twenty minutes of about four tiny towns we were constantly packed-and I had to try to block out the nasty comments from those waiting in line as I marched up to the door and slammed my fist on it after finding out the employee entrance was locked and nobody wanted to answer. After about ten minutes of slamming my fist on the door the nights bouncer, Terrance, finally came and opened the door for me.

"It's cold as fuck out there, why is the employee entrance locked?" I complained, rubbing the arms of my leather jacket to try and get warm as fast as possible, my legs shaking and teeth chattering painfully as I moved deeper into the bar.

"I didn't know it was, one of the sound idiots must've done it." Terrance shrugged, walking off in the other direction while I headed for the bar to set up for the night. Those sound guys were always locking the doors behind them, locking one of us or each other outside, and it was really getting on my nerves. It wasn't the first time they'd done it, but this time they were smart enough to not be the ones that opened the door, because I probably would have ripped their heads off.

I shook my head, watching them trying to set up for the night as I stepped up behind the bar, shrugging off my leather jacket and hanging it on one of the hooks underneath the bar. I wiped down the bar, cleaned the glasses, restocked the bar and then sat on the small stool waiting for seven o'clock and the doors to open so I could do something. The place always looked so different, it was amazing to think how many people a little place like this could fit in it, filled wall to wall and feeling like a football stadium instead of the tiny closet it looked to me right now. The floor was still littered with garbage from the night before, the tables were all shoved off to the edges of the room, there was a big party the night before that ended with a really amusing request for the Cha Cha Slide, which I was more than happy to sit and watch. Some of them could really get low, but only five of them could take it to the top.

Once the bar was cleaned up and ready I walked around fixing tables and stools, picking up garbage where I saw it and just killing time for the doors to open, which thankfully was only a half an hour after I got to work and it only took an hour for the place to be in full swing, packed wall to wall, atmosphere foggy and filled with the smell of spilled beer and sweat. I could feel myself relaxing, the tension and pent up anger and sadness melting away as I slipped into bartender mode, serving drinks and oozing charm. It was almost as if I was me again. Natural flirt and sass replacing the forced sarcasm and bitterness that veiled my wounded pride and shattered heart. I was really pathetic.

But it was nice to be here, to hear other peoples problems instead of my own. problems and make mine seem like some distant fantasy-and some of these stories made damn good things to put into some of my books, and the flirting did wonders for my bruised ego. Though that wasn't the point. The point was that it was far away from home so most of the town didn't bother coming all the way out here-at least not anyone over the age of 23. But of course, as Tori would later say, fate had another plan.

Two hours after we opened Cat and the brunette hopped onto two bar stools in front of me, Cat giving me a happy wave before spinning to survey the crowd of potential dance partners. I started to get her drink ready, "what can I get you?" I asked her, dropping two olives into Cat's drink and setting it behind her. She dropped a few bills on the bar without looking.

"Uh..." the brunette glanced at Cat unsure.

"How 'bout a coke to start?" she nodded and I got her her drink, she reached for money.

"For now you're a DD, you drink free." I told her, she smiled at me, it made her eyes sparkle. Her lips were soft and pink and shiny, "she usually finds someone to go home with though. So her car may just sit. If that happens let me know, I'll give you a ride." she smiled even more, and I couldn't help the smile that turned up on my lips in response.

"Thanks." she picked up her drink and took a sip, spinning and eying the crowd with Cat. I made my way back down to the other end of the bar and when I got back they were replaced with two blonde college girls who didn't get into the sorority they wanted to be in. They were only at the bar for three drinks before they went off to dance and I couldn't have been happier to see them walk away. Sometimes sorority girls were okay but other times I just wanted to shove them off their bar stools into pits of lava, tonight it was the latter.

Once they were gone the only other people at the bar were two professors from the nearby college who had nowhere else to go for a drink after work, who sat cramped at the end of the bar grading papers- at least I think that's what they were doing by the pained expressions on their faces and the increasing amount of empty shot glasses; I'm pretty sure they'd adopted some sort of grading drink game and I was more than happy to help them at it- but since they were otherwise occupied I was left to people watch.

Which lead to me staring rather openly at the brunette dancing with a couple of girls, and if I'm not mistaken singing along too, a few feet away from the bar. I wasn't even trying not to be obvious at that point, and I'm sure more than a few people noticed, but she didn't seem to and if she did she really didn't care. Her hips swayed with such a rhythmic and hypnotizing ease that I was practically melting as I watched her.

"Jade?" at the sound of my name I had to blink a few times in order to stir my body and turn away from her, turning toward the professors at the end of the bar, "two more shots and two bottles of Budlight?"

"Coming right up." I mumbled, my eyes going back to where she was, only to find she'd disappeared. With an unhappy sigh I poured them their shots and handed them their beers, looking for her in the crowd to no avail. Pouting I grabbed a rag and cleaned down the bar top, cleared their shot glass collection and started cleaning up glasses waiting for the next wave to show up-usually around 11:30 the place got its second wind.

And sure enough, two minutes after the professors loaded into their cab the bar was filled again and thoughts of the barista were pushed to the back of my mind. There were a lot of young kids tonight, most of them trying to hide the stamps on their hands, until my very unimpressed glare sliced through them and the shyly asked for a coke instead of whatever stupid drink they'd tried to order before. By the end of the night the high of serving drinks had long since faded and by the time last call finally arrived I was starting to feel the buzz of the coffee I'd been given by one of the sound guys. I called a few cabs, wiped down the bar, cleaned the last few glasses and put my jacket back on, pulling my hair out of it before snugging it up around me, patting the pockets to check for my keys.

Checking to make sure everything was cleaned up I headed out the door, pausing briefly to take in how fucking cold it was outside before stiffly walking toward my car, humming to the Nicki Minaj song playing through my head as I fished my keys out of my pocket, "Hey Jade?" a pretty voice broke though the song and I smiled, stopping in my tracks and turning to find the barista behind me, "Cat went home without someone so I'm kinda stuck."

"Well I don't have heat in my car, but I'll give you a ride."

"I'm sure I wont freeze to death." she laughed, nervously stepping up to walk beside me as we walked toward my car, "Oh my god." she gasped suddenly, "The mustang is yours?"

I laughed, my eyes sweeping across my dads beloved blue 67 Mustang, "yeah, it was my dads. He kept it in better condition than all of his newer cars combined." I walked around to the passenger door and unlocked it, holding the door open for her and closing it behind her. When I got into the drivers seat she was looking around the car in awe, her small body shaking from the icy chill inside. I twisted around in my seat and groped around for the blanket I knew was back there and handed it to her.

"Thanks." she smiled at me, the action making my heart flutter in my chest, something that made me incredibly nervous. I nodded stiffly and put the key in the ignition, pushing the gas pedal up and down quickly before turning the key, the car roared to like, rumbling around us, "So I know you're name, but I don't think Cat told you mine. I'm Tori." she held her hand out from underneath the blanket.

"Nice to meet you, Tori." I took her hand and shook it, ignoring the way my fingers tingled after the contact-after all it was freezing outside. I glanced at the gauge, it was warm enough to drive now, so I tapped the gas pedal to drop the idle and put the car in reverse, once again the car shot back out of the space, "so what made you move out to a tiny little town like Celeste?"

"I needed a change of pace from life out in LA." I replied, looking like she didn't really want to explain it further, so I didn't ask anything else.

"So, how come you don't work at the bar in town?" she asked out of the blue, like the silence was too much for her to handle.

"I need a break from town. Hardly anyone from town goes to the bar, which means nobody there knows who I am." I glanced at her, and she didn't look confused, which meant had told her all about the Beck fiasco, after all Cat had once been my closest friend, these days however Andre held that position alone. He was the only one that would come visit me without trying to drag me from the safety of my house, "so where do you live?"

"West Apartments up on-you probably already know where it is." she amended, laughing, "look I know we don't really know each other, but you seem really nice-and you're really pretty and would you like to go out sometime? I could use someone to show me around town, Cat is always busy with her kids except fro Friday nights and if you're not interested in a date maybe just hang out as friends?" she babbled.

I bit down on my lip to try and smother the laughter building in my chest but a smile broke out on my face soon followed by a fit of giggles, "I'd love to. Maybe tomorrow night we could go see a movie and I could show you the best place to get hot chocolate."

"I'd really like that."

I didn't know it yet, but those words had just changed my life forever.


	3. Horror Movies&Hot Chocolate

**Try**

**Summary: _Jade West's heart was broken, and after all the work she'd put into fixing it she'd like nothing more than to never give anyone a chance to break it again. Tori Vega was looking to start over in a new town, to have a chance at a new life, and she'd like nothing more than to have Jade in it, but sometimes life doesn't make sense, and sometimes you just have to let it play out as it wishes._**

**Rating: _M._**

_**Warnings: Life happens and its not pretty, so prepare. **_

_**Extra warning, vaguely graphic (movie) murder scene mentioned, so be forewarned when they get to the movie to skip over if you're **_**_squeamish._**

**Chapter Two- Horror Movies And Hot Chocolate**

"Andre, what the fuck do you want?" I growled, resting my full weight against the door, nearly falling on my face when it started to swing shut after I rested all my weight against it, "its like seven in the damn morning and I got home at like four." I had to squint at him to avoid the rising sun burning into my ill prepared corneas.

"What were you doing getting home at four?" he asked, barging in past me, knocking into my shoulder and causing me to take a few steps backwards, nearly losing my balance and falling to the floor. Scowling I spun on my heel to follow his path, pushing the door shut halfheartedly, knowing the heavy oak door would slam shut with very little effort on my part. Andre walked off toward my kitchen, like he always did. Straight to my food. I heard the door slam just as I stepped down the hall leading to the kitchen.

"I work at a bar that closes at 3 am, its not a crime to take an hour to get home." I scowled, stomping after him. Sure enough I found him buried in my fridge when I stepped into the room. Sighing I slipped onto one of the counter stools, crossed my arms and rested my chin on them, watching him with halfhearted interest.

"Really? Cause I heard you were busy making a date with a pretty brunette barista." he turned around to waggle his eyebrows suggestively at me with an over done wink before returning to his raid. Sometimes I wondered why I was friends with such an energetic person, because Andre was constantly go go go, he was never tired. Like ever.

"Also, not a crime." I replied, shifting to lay my head down, yawning impulsively, "what should be a crime is you being here at seven am, without coffee, to make yourself _my_ eggs in _my_ kitchen, _without coffee." _I complained, he used to bring me coffee before he came and raided my fridge. Today his hands were only full of my food.

"Well get over it." Andre deadpanned, too many years spent being my friend had clearly affected his people skills, he'd now adopted the Jade West's Guide To Having No Friends people skills. I yawned again, letting my eyelids close as I listened to him cooking, "but please explain to me how _you _got a date."

"I'm hot." I answered, "and my car is a babe magnet, and no, you still can't borrow her." I could practically feel the scowl on his face which made me smile as I started to drift back into dreamland.

"You know, it's not right." Andre started, "you living in this big 'ol house with piles of food that you never cook, let alone eat, and those poor people they're probably just cleaning up after themselves the only room you go in is your study and nobody is allowed in there. It's like they're maintaining a freaking museum instead of someones home."

"I've told you a million times Andre, if you're going to keep bitching just fucking move in here." I stifled a yawn again, "you already live here anyways. You can turn one of the rooms into a studio and you wont have to spend what little money you get on that shitty ass apartment." he always complained that his entire apartment was smaller than my closet-which was not true by any means, but when compared to this house it was.

"It wouldn't be so shitty if my landlord checked in." Andre shot back.

"Not my job. I own the place, by default, I don't run it." I cracked open my eyes and lifted my head, resting my cheek on my hand and my elbow on the counter to prop it up like it the dead weight it was, "feel free to take it up with Helen."

"No way, that lady scares me more than you do." he punctuated his fear by waving the spatula around, flinging bits of egg everywhere.

"God, Ellen would have a full time job just following you around picking up your messes." I complained, scowling at the offending egg chunk that had landed in front of me, not bothering to move to clean it up. The paper towels were just out of arms reach and I was ready for bed. My sweater did little to mimic feeling of my sheets wrapped snugly around my body. Just like they were before Andre rudely knocked, "and another thing, you have a god damn key, use it from now on."

I slid of the stool feeling like my body was made of jelly and grabbed a paper towel, wiping of the counter before walking out, tossing the paper towel into a trash can on my trip up the stair case and down the hall to my bedroom. I shuffled from the door to my blanket covered bed and collapsed face first against it, slowly inching up every few seconds and curling up around the twisted mess that my comforter became until it was wrapped tightly around it, my face buried in my pillow, and I tried to fall back asleep.

Unfortunately, as Andre tended to make me do, I couldn't help but think about those stupid apartments. When my parents died I was left with everything they owned and left young and stupid, and I certainly couldn't be trusted to run anything-I was 16 and my parents were supposed to live forever and get old and terrible and I was supposed to cart them off to some fucking retirement home where people were paid to change their diapers. Instead they died and I was left alone.

So I turned a lot of things over to people who already ran them, meaning that the apartments had been turned over to Helen, who was basically running them anyways, with my mom over seeing everything. But I only checked in every so often. From the way Andre was complaining I thought maybe I should pay a visit, keep track of all of the things my parents worked their asses off for so I didn't have to work my ass off ever if I didn't want to.

But instead of getting up to face the world I curled up tighter and strained to keep my eyes shut tightly, no light slipping beyond the thin skin while I tried to berate myself to sleep. It didn't work though and soon a gnawing guilt was taking over, and the pit in my stomach was so annoying I couldn't ignoring it. Mentally cursing Andre in every language I knew and with everything I could think of I rolled out of bed and put on my big girl pants, which was really a gray pin stripe suit with a white blouse underneath the jacket. I even pulled my hair back into a tight ponytail, making me look more like a business woman and less like the lost little teenager I really still was, even though I was twenty three.

Sighing I went downstairs, grabbing a set of car keys from the hallway without really looking and walking automatically toward the kitchen where Andre was no doubt still eating his eggs. Sure enough he was at my dining room table, scribbling in his song book while forking eggs quickly into his mouth, "I'll be back in a few hours." I called, walking past him. Then I stopped short, took a few steps back and snatched his fork, stabbing a chunk of egg and forking it into my mouth before dropping the fork back into his hand and heading into the garage. I hit the unlock button on the keys, cause frankly they all looked the same, and the lights to the Cruze flashed. Heaving a sigh I walked over, got in and started the car, cranking the heat up to full blast while I fished around for my phone in my back pocket.

I texted Helen that I'd be over to look over the books in an hour, because I frequently went around doing spot checks. If there was anything I inherited from my father it was my distrust of humans. Especially with my money, and more importantly with theirs. This time I at least gave her fair warning, and I knew she'd give Sikowitz and Max a heads up, whether or not I went there wasn't a sure thing, but at the very least they'd both be freaking out for a few hours, which would please me to no end. But first I rolled up outside of the coffee shop, parallel parked with a minor amount of bitching, and walked inside.

Tori was behind the counter, and there were five people in line before me. With a smile I tried to fight I stepped into the line and waited silently to reach the counter. When I made it to the register she was getting the last order put together. I leaned my hip against the counter, crossing my ankles and checked some of my emails that I'd been neglecting, mostly my nagging publisher-or at least the woman who wanted the first rights to my first book. She was so fucking obnoxious sometimes. I deleted two of the emails and replied to the second managing to bite my tongue. Or whatever the text version of that is.

"Good morning, ma'am, what can I get-oh Jade!" her voice got a little higher pitched and I couldn't help but smile, as I turned to face her, "hey Jade, what can I get you?"

"A black coffee to go, two sugars and one of those glazed doughnuts, please." I smiled, unable to fight it anymore. Her smile stretched wider and my stomach started buzzing with butterflies, I'd never felt so nervous in my life.

"Right." she tapped a few buttons, "six ten." I dug out my wallet while she made my coffee and grabbed my doughnut. I fished out a ten and shoved my wallet back into my pocket. I watched her work, noticing the shininess of her ponytail as it swung behind her head like a pendulum. It reflected the light, the shinier parts seeming almost blonde. It looked really soft and part of me wanted to run my fingers through it. I bet it would be like silk, just running between my fingers while my li-I shook my head, I shouldn't be thinking like that, "here's your coffee, Jade." I took the cup and the bag with my doughnut that she had set down, passing her the ten.

"Keep the change." I managed to say without sounding like some dazed and confused idiot. Tori smiled at me, an almost shy smile where she bit her lip and her eyes flickered to the floor briefly before back to my eyes and her cheeks turned pink. Good lord why didn't I notice how cute she was before? I mean last night she had to have looked...at least nice? But I couldn't recall the vivid details, just her nervousness about the drink and the smile when I said I'd give her a ride and the way she marveled at the car, but nothing else.

"Jade?" I froze in my tracks outside, "you never said what time we should meet or where."

"I'll pick you up at your place around six? Most of the movies start around six thirty or so." I shifted from one foot to the other nervously, "If that's okay?" my voice squeaked slightly when I rushed to finish the sentence.

"Yeah, I can't wait." she grinned. I grinned back, my heart racing, and quickly made my way out, trying really hard not to spill my coffee or trip over myself somehow. I was relieved when I made it into my car and set the coffee in the cup holder. I sat in the drivers seat and inhaled the doughnut sipped some of the coffee and then finally pulled out of the space and headed toward the apartment complex.

When I arrived Helen made a huge fuss about getting me this and showing me that, "Helen, back off." I snapped, waving her away as I walked into my moms office, which was surprisingly messy for an office I never used. I glanced at Helen who winced, "I just-."

"Don't just, ever again." I snapped, she scurried off to do whatever while I sat down in my moms chair, glancing over at the picture turned face down on the desk. Anger boiling in the pit of my stomach I turned it up right and met with my smiling mom and dad holding little one year old me in their arms at some beach in black and white. I stared at it for a few minutes before I turned to the paperwork on the desk and shifted through it, looking at expense reports, complaints filed, new tenants and everyone's track record with payments.

I got through half of the papers before my eyes started to cross and I decided to wander upstairs and poke through the vacant apartments and Andre's, since I had a key. Everything was in order that I saw, so I sadly walked back downstairs to my moms office and sunk into the chair again. She always made it look so damn easy, effortless, dealing the complaints and the budget and the people. I just couldn't do it, not even once a month, let alone every freaking day of the week. Bar tending I could do, hell I could work at a damn McDonald's and survive, but this was always just so much pressure, I always felt like the building was sitting on my fucking shoulders.

I piled it all up and put a few rubber bands around it, found one of my moms old brief cases and shoved all the papers into it and picked it up, making a mental note to change the lock on the door as I left, pointedly staring at Helen as I jangled my keys, "Until next time, Helen!" I called from the door, stepping back out into the freezing cold afternoon. It perked me up at least, and by the time I got to my house the papers were long forgotten in my passenger seat as I walked inside. Crossing through the kitchen I found the dishes done and drying, Andre's shoes by my stairs and I could hear noise coming from my living room.

"He would be playing call of duty." I grumbled, stopping short and opting to go up to my room and change out of this awful suit, I stopped halfway up the stairs and yanked off my heels before continuing down the hall toward my bedroom, tossing the shoes aside followed by the suit jacket, the button up shirt and my pants, all landing in a pile next to my closet which I kicked out of the way to get to my dresser where I grabbed a pair of shorts and a baggy shirt to head downstairs and find out why Andre turned my room into game central.

"Are you fucking kidding me." I complained, looking around at the completely trashed living room-one which was pristine from the five days my staff was here, "you are seriously so disgusting. What are you doing in here?" I glanced at the screen, recognizing Call Of Duty, and the laptop in front of him opened to some chat with a bunch of his friends.

"Hey Jade, I think I might just take you up on that offer, this place is so nice. No annoying neighbors screaming or babies crying or Helen-Jesus no Helen! Aww damn it!" he cursed as his screen told him he was dead, "where've you been all day?"

"At the apartments. Your place is completely disgusting, its a wonder the apartment doesn't have fucking roaches the way your place looks." I nudged his sweatshirt out of my way with my toe, scowling at everything littering the floor.

"Well some of us don't have a full cleaning staff." Andre countered.

"You said yourself, they barely have anything to clean-and you are _not _leaving this for Ellen to clean up, you little shit." he rolled his eyes and moved over so I could sit on the couch beside him, he tossed his controller into my lap and leaned forward to put a new disk in my Xbox, picking up another remote, "Resident Evil?" I asked hopefully, a grin stretching across my face when the name appeared on the screen.

Andre sank back against the couch next to me, setting the popcorn between us as the game started. Two bags of popcorn later my fingers were killing me and the boss had killed us _again, _with an aggravated sigh I cast the remote aside, glanced at the time, four thirty, and stood up, stretching my arms up above my head until my spine popped, "I'm gonna go shower. Clean up a bit, please." I said, stepping over the pile of crap at the foot of the couch and walking out, skipping up the stairs two at a time.

I showered as quickly as possible, scrubbing my scalp with my nails so I was sure all of the built up grossness was washed away, slicked in some conditioner and stared at my body washes while I waited for the conditioner to soak in. There were a lot of options-I ordered from Bath and Body in bulk when there were sales or free shipping so that I didn't have to drive an hour to get something that didn't come from the local grocery store-which again, I avoided.

After staring between all of the smells-all of the fall ones so tempting, but I settled on my usual, one that smelled like warmed apples and cinnamon. Once I was clean and my hair was rinsed and I happily stepped out wrapped in a towel and crossed into my bathroom, unwrapping the towel and drying my dripping hair, listening to Andre rush into the bathroom, slamming the door loudly behind him. Chuckling I tossed the towel over the back of my hair and stood in front of my closet, looking at the dull array from gray to dark black from one side to the other.

"What the fuck do you even wear on a date?" I complained, crossing my arms over my chest and glaring at the lack of variety hanging in my closet.

"Well if you were that I'm sure you'll get a second." Andre commented, I rolled my eyes over toward the door where he was lingering, "just being honest Jade."

"More like being creepy, buster." I said, pointing an accusatory finger at him before I grabbed a pair of underwear and a bra from my dresser, putting them on and staring at the closet, "I mean seriously, what was I thinking? I don't know how to act on a date-it was a damn miracle Beck put up with me so long-."

"Now stop that, Jade." he interrupted, "you deserve someone who loves you, not someone who just puts up with you. Beck was an idiot, you're a great girl, and he's missing out not you." I bit down on my tongue, trying to suppress the tears building in the back of my eyes, rolling my eyes and blinking and trying not to think about him, "now since its cold as shit outside lets find you some clothes to wear."

Half an hour later I was finally happy with my outfit, a dark green cotton cap-sleeve dress with a pair of black tights and my leather jacket. I shoved my feet into a pair of black ankle boots and went into the bathroom where I touched up my hair-which I'd gone to do when I got frustrated trying to find something to wear-because I swear everything was just not enough, she was too pretty and I just wanted to impress her, as pathetic as it was. But now my hair was done, and a few minutes with my mascara and eyeliner and I was ready to go- after checking four times that I had my wallet and phone I finally went downstairs, grabbed my leather jacket, the keys for my Cruze, and headed out for the garage, "I'll see you later Andre-finish cleaning up the living room!"

"Okay mom!" Andre yelled after me. I had a feeling he wouldn't actually clean it, but it made me feel better to at least feel like I've tried. I shrugged on my jacket before slipping behind the wheel, pushing the button to open the garage door and then turned the key. The car hummed to life, so quiet I could hardly hear it, and the heat instantly filled the car. Happy in my little warm bubble I backed out of the garage, stopping to wait for the large door to close before I pulled away in the direction of the apartment complex.

I drove slow, something rare for me, I wasn't quite ready for this date. I almost didn't want to call it that, but I'm pretty sure that's what it was. My fingers were trembling and wasps were bouncing around in my stomach, and god I was so fucking nervous it wasn't even funny. It's not like I hadn't gone out with people when I was in New York, and I'd gone on plenty of dates with Beck, so what was it about this girl I'd had only a handful of interactions with that I felt like I'd never been out with anyone in my life?

I stopped about a block away from the apartment complex and just sat outside some store with my head resting on the steering wheel until I wasn't shaking and then I pulled back onto the road and pulled up outside the complex. I'd never asked Tori which apartment was hers, something that had just occurred to me seconds before, but she was just poking her head out around the corner when I pulled up. She met my gaze and a small smile graced her lips before she rushed over to the car, hugging her arms around her body, tugging at her long sleeves to pull them down over hands. I hit the unlock button just as she grabbed the handle and slipped inside, rubbing her hands rapidly up and down her jeans trying to warm her hands. I turned the heat up a notch, "so I never asked what you wanted to see."

"Uh-honestly I don't even know what movies are out." she laughed nervously, "I didn't even know there was a movie theater."

"There isn't one, we have a drive in and I think they're playing some old movie tonight, and there's a theater about ten minutes away." I grabbed my phone and pulled up the picture of the movie ads for the weekend, "uh they're playing Catching Fire tonight. And here's the list for the theater. I imagine it'd be pretty damn cold to go sit at the drive in, but that's up to you." I passed her my phone and pulled away from the complex, happy that the theater and drive in were both in the same direction.

"The Scissoring Two is playing at the theater?" she gasped in an excited tone, I almost slammed on the breaks, "can we go see that or are scary movies not your thing?"

"Oh we can totally go see that." I grinned, "I _love _the Scissoring." Tori grinned too, locking my phone and setting it down in her lap, glancing out the window as everything rushed by the car, just taking in everything. I left the radio off, for the first time in awhile not feeling weird about the silence and the only thing on my mind was how excited I was to see this movie, and the fact that she was so excited to see it, too.

I found a parking spot close to the doors, limiting the time out in the cold to the five minutes in line where we were both shifting from foot to foot and rubbing our arms to keep warm like the rest of the movie goers, and when we stepped up to the window she didn't stop me from paying for both of the tickets and the popcorn, but she insisted on buying the soda, and once we had everything we headed into the theater.

I followed behind her with the popcorn as she found seats literally exactly in the middle and then sat down next to her, by some miracle not dumping the popcorn on myself when the seat didn't want to go down when I hooked my foot on it. Laughing Tori took the bags so I could sit back up from my slumped position, and oddly her laughter just made me smile instead of feeling incredibly embarrassed like I would with Beck. Andre's words about him earlier rang through my head. He was missing out not me.

We chatted through the credits about the first movie, comparing our favorite parts-she thought the first kill was the best, but personally I loved the last, and we both agreed that the funniest death was the second girl who was killed while sleeping with the killers ex, the way the blood spurted from her throat and all over his face while he was climaxing was the best thing ever, nothing else compared. Hopes high for the sequel we silenced as soon as the lights dimmed.

The movie was good, I even jumped once, my hands gripping the arm rests and Tori jumped too, her hand gripping mine as she groped for the arm rest at the same time, and she took a few minutes to let go, even though I wouldn't have minded if she stayed like that the entire time, but when she pulled her hand away to get more popcorn I moved mine to pick up my drink and took a sip from it, my eyes glued to the screen. The theater emptied out quickly as soon as the credits rolled, and I couldn't help but laugh at them, they'd all miss the real ending. I was happy when Tori didn't even move to get up, watching the credits roll by while eating the last of her popcorn.

And as I knew it would the screen faded back to color and the killer was shown clawing her way out of her grave once more, and then flashes to the survivors house where she's watching TV, and behind her you can see the killer outside, and then the screen cut to black and the lights came on, "I can't wait for the next one to come out." I declared in an embarrassingly giddy tone.

"Me too, we'll have to come see it together." she stood up, grabbing her cup and popcorn bag, crushing the empty container in her hand. I followed in suit, stepping out of the isle and waiting for her to get out before following her out toward the car, opening the passenger door for her and closing it behind her, rushing around the car to get out of the cold, starting the car and cranking up the heat immediately, "so ready for the best hot chocolate in town?"

"So ready." Tori replied eagerly. I watched as she tucked her hands under her thighs to warm them up faster. I twisted the heat up to the highest notch and backed out of the parking space, heading back toward town. Tori looked thoroughly confused as I parked outside of the coffee shop, "you know they're closed right?"

"Closed to the public, yes." I replied with a confident grin, slipping out of my seat and into the cold once more. She hesitated before following me out, standing next to me shifting anxiously from foot to foot while I tried to find the keys to the front door, making a triumphant sound as I located the key and pushed it into the lock, yanking the door open and motioning her in before me, following her inside.

"So you have keys?" she asked.

"I technically own the place, so yeah, I have keys." I set them down on the counter as I hopped over it, grabbing two glasses and starting the hot chocolate machine.

"I thought Christine was the owner?" Tori asked, pulling over a stool and sitting down to watch me.

"Operating manager, but no, I own this place. And most of the things in this town. Well my parents did-i thought Cat told you? Since you said I'd obviously know where the complex was." I rambled.

"I just assumed you did, ya know living here so long. But West Apartments, Jade West, kinda makes sense. I feel pretty dumb now." she buried her face in her hands.

"Don't worry about it." I laughed, "can't believe I just ruined the only person in town who didn't know I owned half of everything in it." the hot chocolate machine started boiling, spitting out the hot liquid into the cup I'd placed under it. I searched around for the marshmallows and whipped cream, setting them onto the counter while I switched out the full cup for an empty one, dropping marshmallows into the steaming cup and putting the tip of the whipped cream canister into it, pushing down and spinning the cup until the cream was perfectly on top. I turned and carefully passed Tori the cup before preparing my own.

When I turned around she was holding it between her hands and had a dollup of whipped cream on her nose, "you got something." I pointed at my own nose and she scrunched hers in response, which was really fucking adorable, before she wiped her nose off with a napkin and bit down on her lip trying, and failing, to fight a smile.

"So, you really own everything in town?" she asked, staring into the top of her cup.

"More like took over?" I ventured, "my family helped out when this town was struggling to float, put a lot of money into everything, eventually built some businesses, gave people work, and when they died everything went to me, but I was only 16 so I just kinda pushed all the business running stuff on the managers willing and my uncle helped everything get settled-and god this is depressing first date talk."

"Might as well get all the depressing stuff out in the beginning." Tori declared, "that's why I moved here, my parents passed away and my sister fled to another country, and my record label was pressuring me to finish my album and I was just done so I ran away." she spun the glass between her hands.

"I get that. I ran to New York right after they died, I couldn't handle the way everyone looked at me and then when Beck cheated on me I ran again. The quietness of this place, I just needed the noise. I suppose if I was living in New York I'd wanna go some place quiet." she gave me a small smile and I reached out and placed my hand over hers, rubbing my thumb across the back of her wrist.

"Man, way to jump right into the deep end on a first date." she laughed, pulling her hand back and swiping at the underside of her eyes, lifting the cup up and taking a slow sip. I did the same, hardly minding when the liquid scalded my tongue, and I really didn't mind the next hour of sipping coffee spent discussing our favorite horror movies and then regular movies, and by the time I was pulling into my garage I felt like I was walking on a cloud.

I hadn't felt that way since before my parents passed away and I was willing to do anything to keep it there. Just that one date and I knew things would be different with her in my life, and that things were changing. I just didn't know how much she'd change everything I'd ever known, but for that night I just went to bed, thinking about going down to the coffee shop to write all day again, and I dreamed of that smile, and nothing else really mattered.


End file.
